We have added some new features to the GMR Lending Library and wanted to let you know a little bit about them.

In the books section we have added a few new links and a bit of data. We have had some issues with books not coming back to the GMR, long loan periods and other issues that made the collection less useful. I decided to address these problems with existing technologies. I heard a podcast ([Out of date link removed.]) about what one library was doing with their OPAC and decided to see if we could do some of the same cool things with the lending library.

I added a field for ISBN and two links: Details and Find a local copy

The “Details” link takes you into the books record at Amazon. This allows one to read reviews if they have them or find out more about the book. If one decides that the book would be useful in your collection then you could order it from their site either used or new.

The “Find a local copy” link takes you into OCLC Worldcat.
By clicking on this link and entering a zip code one can locate copies of the material that are near you based on the zip code that is entered. This was proposed as an alternative if the item was checked out of the GMR lending library you could explore other options to secure the material.

We have added the ISBN as a field. This field made the Details link possible.

We are investigating a new system for the GMR Lending Library.

Take a look and let us know if you like the new features.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 at 8:24 am and is filed under From the GMR, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.